HSBC to slash hundreds of investment bank jobs

HSBC is planning several hundred job cuts at its investment bank, according to reports. 

Bloomberg, which first reported on the cuts, said at least 500 roles are on the line and the process will begin in June. 

The global banking and markets division at the bank employs around 48,500 people. Details of the plan are still being finalised and have not been announced internally.

Business and function lines constantly re-evaluate their needs to ensure they have the right roles in the right locations"

They come amid sweeping job reductions across the firm, and are reportedly part of a wide plan nicknamed Project Oak. The project is designed specifically to allow various divisions to transfer the immediate costs of making people redundant to the HSBC parent company, rather than shouldering the burden themselves.

"Business and function lines constantly re-evaluate their needs to ensure they have the right roles in the right locations," HSBC said in a statement.

The decision comes just weeks after chief executive John Flint said HSBC was "proactively" managing expenses in light of a more uncertain economy. 

Earlier this month HSBC reported a 31% rise in first quarter profit following its initial round of cost cuts, with income from its Asian business a major driver of this.

The job cuts are the latest leg of HSBC's ‘Project Oak' program, designed to move resources to more profitable areas of the business.

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